Nars Foreplay Blush Palette ($49/Sephora Exclusive) is a deconstructed version of the iconic Orgasm blush. This includes the original Orgasm blush (bottom right), together with the individual elements of the original–a matte fuchsia pink, a matte coral, and the shimmery gold highlighter.

The palette is a crowd-pleasing mix of colors that allows you to customize this universally flattering shade as you like. Personally, I’m so attached to cool pinks, I love popping a little bit of the fuchsia on my upper cheek, with the Orgasm down below. Here’s a swatch of all of the shades (softly on the left, more dense on the right):

A few close-ups of the colors:

More:

When I first saw the press for Nars Foreplay, I wasn’t sure as I hadn’t used my original Orgasm in a while (no double entrendre intended). Now that I’ve played with Nars Foreplay, I see its genius. I frequently layer blush in other lines, and having the ability to control the separate elements is sort of awesome. I love adding Fuchsia to Orgasm. It makes the whole color new. Here’s one look on Liz, playing with the colors:

Here, she started with Orgasm as the base shade, then added the fuchsia and coral separately, adding the gold as a highlighter at the end.

Bottom line–The price is right, the package is extremely convenient (especially if you live on the road as I do at times). Awesome, consistent Nars quality. You can get infinite looks easily. This gives a brightening glow. Love.

The Nars Foreplay Palette was sent to Cafe Makeup without charge for consideration for review.

Due August 1, 2012, NARS will offer Sephora Foreplay, an exclusive blush/highlighter palette ($49). Inspired by NARS best-selling Orgasm blush, Foreplay is Orgasm “deconstructed.” The original is a peach, pink, and gold combination. This palette includes the original Orgasm, plus each of the components separately–pink, peach, and gold. You can layer the iconic original with shimmery gold highlighter, or intensify either the peach or pink by adding the matte tones to create your own signature Orgasm glow.